Former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, gave a crowd pleasing speech at CPAC today in Washington, D.C. that brought the audience to their feet for numerous standing ovations – something that no other speaker had accomplished in the 3 days of the convention. She was intentional…in her lack of endorsement of any of the GOP candidates; in her lack of specifically throwing her wig in the race; and in her thorough rallying cry to the fringe conservative base…something she does so well. She is an expert at igniting and exciting that base.

Let’s start with the political Christian dogwhistles:

Shining City on a Hill

Constitutional Conservatives

Tipping Point

Open Door

Providentially crafted blueprint

A Servant’s Heart

We’ve been set aside, that’s why we are exceptional

God bless Israel

All the above were stated in Palin’s carefully crafted speech. I will give it to her, she did a stellar job. Her speech contained the appropriate colloquialisms that she is so known for and she did not disappoint us with her propensity for leaving the ‘g’ off of “ing” words. As much as I disagree with Palin, I am not going to diss the fact that she has an ability to raise the enthusiasm and emotion of a dedicated voting bloc that we would be remiss in ignoring. No other speaker at this convention whipped up the crowd like Sarah and she is well aware of that.

Today was Sarah’s birthday, and the adoration and chants of “Sarah! Sarah!” could not compete with any other gift that she received today.

I have said this for three years, do not count her out. Many have chastised me for taking this position, but today we saw the beginning of her “cat and mouse” game with conservative voters that can make or break the election of a nominee out of the four candidates in the running. She is well aware of this and lapping it up!

Out of the numerous dog whistles in her speech, none resonated more with my “Palin-is-going-to-run radar” than “the door is open”. Here is a clip from an interview she did with Greta Van Susteren last year where she tells us what the door opening means.

The only line that was missing was “fire in the belly”, but I predict she is saving that for her actual announcement. Here is a video I did after she announced on Greta Van Susteren’s FOX show that she has the “fire in her belly”.